1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet coating apparatus for applying a predetermined coating liquid onto a sheet.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a liquid electrophotographic printer, e.g., a laser printer, in order to prevent a printed image from blotting on paper and to improve the resolution of an image, there has been proposed a coating apparatus for applying a coating liquid such as wax after a printing operation. However, the conventional coating apparatus, as shown in FIG. 1, is configured such that a coating roller 10 and a backup roller 20 are rotatably installed along the traveling path through which a sheet 1 passes, and the coating roller 10 is partially immersed in a storage tank 30 containing liquid wax W. Accordingly, the wax W that sticks to the coating roller 10 is coated onto the printed surface of the sheet 1 passing between the coating roller 10 and the backup roller 20.
However, in the above-described coating system, since the wax W moving upward along the surface of the coating roller 10 according to rotation thereof is coated onto the sheet 1 without some means of limiting the amount of the wax W adhering to the coating roller 10, it is not possible to regulate the amount of the coated wax. Thus, the amount of the coated wax is nonuniform and excess wax is likely to be coated in places, which results in increased consumption of a coating liquid. Therefore, a coating apparatus which can regulate the coated amount of a coating liquid is required.
To solve the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved sheet coating apparatus which can uniformly regulate the amount of a coating liquid coated onto a sheet.
Accordingly, to achieve the above object, there is provided a sheet coating apparatus for coating a coating liquid on a sheet traveling along a predetermined transfer path, including a storage tank in which the coating liquid is contained, a coating roller which is in contact with the sheet and which is rotatably installed on the transfer path, for coating the coating liquid supplied from the storage tank on the surface of the sheet, and a coated amount regulating mechanism which is securely pressed against the surface of the coating roller, and which regulates the amount of the coating liquid coated on the sheet by squeegeeing the coating liquid sticking on the surface of the coating roller.